Every registered voter in this county was likely deluged with mailers from District Attorney Dan Dow’s campaign. Instead of the usual mailers which highlight differences between the candidates, Dow is fixated on his opponent Judge Mike Cummins legally changing his first name to “Judge” last June — as if to deceive voters into thinking he’s still a judge. Dow is presenting a conspiracy that Cummins legally changed his name to deceive voters for his DA campaign. Ironically for the DA, there is no evidence backing his oft-refuted claim.

District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton is facing 32-year-old challenger Jimmy Paulding in a heated election. Both candidates have hurled allegations about each other that the local media has taken aim at. Recently, the two traded barbs over campaign mailers they sent out about each other. While Paulding held Compton to account over her views on offshore oil drilling, Compton chided an “entitled” Paulding and his father. In her mailer, Compton ridiculed the fact that Paulding’s father transferred title of his father’s house to his son. Out of all the things a candidate to be accused of, having the love and affection from a parent isn’t exactly controversial.

But that isn’t the first time Paulding’s family was attacked in this election.

A student killed 10 people and injured 13 others at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. In the United States, school shootings have increased dramatically over the past two decades. School shootings have become so frequent that students around the country are increasingly fearful of a shooting happening at their school.

The world knows his name. A video showing his agonizing, final hours has garnered national and international coverage. SLO County is now associated with cruel, institutionalized barbarianism that remains unchecked.